Seven years for woman who forced girl into prostitution

The victim, kidnapped from West Bengal, was rescued from G.B. Road during a raid conducted by the police last year

A 26-year-old woman has been put behind bars for seven years by a Delhi court for trafficking a girl from West Bengal. She was forced into prostitution and rescued only after her brother came looking for her.

The court stopped short of directing closure of the brothel being run by convict Teena since the issue is part of a petition before the Delhi High Court.

It, however, slapped a fine of Rs.15,000 on Teena, which would be paid as compensation to the victim.

Additional Sessions Judge Kaveri Baweja held her guilty of illegally confining the victim and under various provisions of the Immoral Trafficking Act for forcing the girl into prostitution.

The girl was rescued from a brothel at G.B. Road by a Delhi Police raiding party.

The team had swung into action after the Kamla Market police station was informed by an NGO that a boy had approached them looking for her sister.

During the raid, the team reached a brothel where the girl came forward and identified the boy as her brother. She was taken by the police for medical examination and sent to Nari Niketan on the order of a magistrate.

The girl and her family’s ordeal were reported by The Hindu . The Delhi High Court had taken cognisance of the newspaper report.

The girl told the police and the court that in January 2013, while she was roaming outside her house in Bengal, two boys came on a motorcycle and covered her face with a cloth after which she fainted.

She said when she regained consciousness, she found herself at Howrah railway station from where she was brought to Delhi and kept in a room. The boys told her that she will have to work as a prostitute. When she raised a hue and cry, she was beaten up and threatened. Then she was handed over to Teena who took her to the brothel.

At the brothel, she was forced to have physical relations with many customers in a day for Rs.300, the victim told the court.